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Custom Made Purple Minion Puppet

About: I'm a full time artist and part time freelance artist who likes to work in a variety of medias and the ones I have never used... I am eager and happy to try! I'm a (Full time) Dad who enjoys spending my free...
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This is a puppet that I made for a special gift. It was a very rewarding project due to the reason I made it and very fulfilling when I presented it to its recipient. Since there are no Purple Minions to buy in the store that resemble the original Yellow Minions I was asked to create this one for this special project. Parts needed: -Soft foam (JoAnn Fabrics) -1/2 yard of purple fleece (JoAnn Fabrics) -a ping pong ball sliced in half -2 2 1/2" gray plumbing bushings (Lowes) -Black foam board (any craft store) -Plexi Glass (Lowes) -Black Strap for goggles (Could use anything) -Black Boondoggle (any craft store) -Overalls (Build A Bear) -Black Doll Shoes (JoAnn Fabrics) -One old black winter glove -Sewing thread and sewing needle -Craft glue (any craft store) -Acrylic Paint -Black Felt and Pink Felt (JoAnn Fabrics)

Step 1: The Body Base

Soft craft foam was used for the base of this puppet like I use in all of my puppets... I used the same pattern for this step that I used for the purple fleece in Step 3.
First trace your pattern onto the foam with a Sharpie and then using scissors or an Xacto knife carefully cut out your body base shape.
After the shape was cut out I brought the ends (sides) of the piece together to form a cylinder shape and ran a line of glue along the edge holding it together as I sewed it up along the seam using white thread.
Next at the top of the Minions head I began bringing the triangular shaped pieces together, gluing and sewing them together all the way around to form the dome shape of the head. A few more stitches at the top of the heads center joined it all together and completed the dome shape.
Two dots were drawn on with the Sharpie and also the mouth to mark their places for the face. Kind of looks like a Pac Man ghost right now... Haha

Step 2: Joining and Sewing Up the Bottom

For this step I joined the bottom triangular pieces together by gluing and sewing as in the previous step. Now that the bottom is formed you have your puppets body base complete.

Step 3: The Fleece - Your Puppets Skin

In this step you will trace your pattern onto to the back side of the fleece with your Sharpie and cut it out with your scissors. After the piece is cut out mark your eyes and mouth on the fleece. Make sure they line up with the eye and mouth marks on the foam base.
Now take your fleece and match up the facial markings and sew your edges (sides) together up along the back of the puppet. I used purple thread to match the fleece. Make sure as you sew that you go into the foam also so the fleece is attached securely to the foam. I also ran a line of glue up along one edge of the fleece before sewing to be sure that it would stay in place.
Continue sewing the top (triangular) pieces together as you did with the foam. Also just as you sewed the seam make sure you are sewing the fleece to the foam as well. Joined together with one last stitch at the top center of the head.

Step 4: Base for the Goggles

For this step I took the two gray plumbing bushings I bought for the goggles and I laid them side by side on a piece of black foam board.
I then traced around the outer perimeter of the bushings and then I traced the inside perimeter. After I had the pattern drawn, I cut it out and cut out the circles centers. I then made a slight score line between the two so that I could bend it to the curve of the face. I applied some glue, let it dry and then repeated this step for two more layers.
Next I cut a circle out of heavy matte board and scored it down the center for the inside mouthpiece. I applied some glue to the edge of the mouth board and sewed it to the lips making sure it was seen into the foam as well as the fleece.

Step 5: Goggles and Eyes!

In this step I added the Minions eyes and goggles. The eyes is a ping pong ball cut evenly in half and sanded smooth to remove any glossy sheen. The irises and pupils were then painted and I then glued the eyes into place.
After everything was dry I went to work finishing the goggles. The two gray plumbing bushings would be used as is...but first the goggles needed lenses. The lenses were cut from plexi glass and glued into the inside of the bushings created the goggles eyepieces. When they were completely dry I glued them to the goggles base.
Lastly for the goggles strap, I cut a strap off of an old backpack to size... glued and sewed it to the back of the head and to the goggles. Now he's really starting to come to life!

Step 6: Sewing Up the Bottom and Detailing the Mouth

This step was pretty easy. I sewed the fleece to the foam on the bottom of the body pulling it in and up a bit. Glue was added as in previous steps to ensure durability since this is for a little child.
The inside of the mouth was then painted black and a pink felt tongue was cut out and glued into the mouth.

Step 7: Time to Dress the Little Fella

After searching for what seemed forever at many different stores for a pair of overalls small enough to fit the Minion I settled for a pair from Build A Bear.
Unfortunately they were still a little big and some modifications and (a lot of) tailoring needed to be done.
I first removed the straps from the overalls. I then removed the metal fasteners at the end of each so that they would resemble the Minion overalls from the film which only consist of buttons attaching the straps.
Next I sewed the right strap the front of the overalls at the button and up over the shoulder and attached and sewed the other end to the back. I repeated this for the left strap as well.
Once the straps were seen to the front and back of the overalls I stitched them at the place the shoulders would be too the fleece. Keeping in mind that the puppet would be handled frequently by little hands I wanted to keep it as durable as possible.

Step 8: Arms and Hair

The next step was to give the little guy some arms and some hair....
For the arms I first cut two strips of foam and two strips of the purple fleece to wrap around the foam. I brought both ends of the fleece together around the foam, sewed it up the side for both arms and then sewed the tops and bottoms closed. Next I sewed the arms to the body at the overall shoulder straps on each side. For the hands I took an old black winter glove and cut two fingertips of two of the fingers. I took some black thread and sewed these onto the end of each arm... Viola instand gloved Minion hands! Easy peasy...
For the hair I cut different lengths of black boondoggle punctured a hole in the head for each piece...placed a drop of glue over each hole and pushed each hair into each follicle. Instant hair! We're almost there!!

Step 9: This Guy Needs Some Legs!

The legs were as easy to make as the arms...
I cut strips of foam once again and strips of the purple fleece and put them together just like I did the arms, except I left the bottom of the legs open so that I could attach them to the feet.
The feet were cut of foam also and wrapped in pieces of purple fleece, sewn up and then the legs were sewn onto the top of each foot with the purple thread!

Step 10: No Shoes... No Service!

The shoes were the easiest part. They are just a couple of doll shoes which I glued onto each foot. Quick and easy!

Step 11: Get This Guy Some Pants!

The pant legs were tough since I had to remove each of the pant legs from the original overalls before tailoring. They were to big and out of proportion for this little guy...
So I took one of the original removed pant legs and cut it up the middle making two new smaller pant legs. I then sewed each new pant leg up the side to create two smaller proportionate pant legs.
Next I slid them onto each leg and sewed them into place. The legs are complete!

Step 12: Attaching the Legs

Now that the legs are complete... It's time to sew them into place at the bottom of the overalls. A simple stitch done twice to each leg attaching them to the overalls worked just fine. This little Purple pal is almost complete!

Step 13: One Last Touch

There was one last thing I had to add... It was a symbol that they wanted on the overalls front pocket. Instead of the G symbol seen on the regular minion overalls they wanted this little panda logo. Quick and easy... Just a piece of black felt cut into a small circle with the white parts painted in acrylic and then glued into place?

Step 14: A Finished Piece and a One of a Kind Gift!

Thanks for checking out this Instructable.. I hoped you enjoyed this Instructable as much as I did creating it for this special little child. She loved it and I hope it brings her as much joy as I experienced making it for her!

This puppet is adorable! Makes me smile. By the way, an easier way to put "skin" on a foam puppet is to needle felt colored wool roving directly onto the foam as this video shows: http://youtu.be/JOabPCTTZJ8